Following the Mill Creek side of the ridge, we see pipestems (Clematis lasiantha), hairy honeysuckle (Lonicera hispidula), California chicory
(Rafinesquia californica), twining snapdragon (Antirrhinum kelloggii), woolly malacothrix (Malacothrix floccifera), and stinging lupine
(Lupinus hirsutissimus). Also here is one of the most dynamic and taxonomically complicated burl-forming manzanita populations in the state, growing in
mudstone so weathered it has been reduced to powder-like fragments, reconfigured into miniature dunes reminiscent of a Zen garden.

The Arctostaphylos crustacea Complex

Articulating a plausible scenario for the current evolutionary status of the manzanitas found here is to enter into a scientific debate of gladiatorial proportions—but signposts, even flawed ones, are a navigational necessity in this ecological arena! The origins of the Arctostaphylos crustacea complex may be
polyphyletic—its burl is putatively derived from ancient hybridization between a horizontally aligned, nodal-rooting diploid species
(aff. A. uva-ursi) and a vertically aligned, auriculate-leaved diploid species (aff. A. andersonii). Subsequent reduction and coalescence of
the node-rooting axis may have occurred through selective evolutionary pressures imposed by seasonal fires and concurrent/subsequent assimilation of genetic
material from sympatric species, ultimately producing an exceedingly long-lived, fire-regenerative "genetic sponge." This is for me a biologically
sound theory and one worth investigating on molecular (DNA sites), ecological (specificity of fungal associates), and structural (examination of misplaced burls,
the possible result of incomplete dominance) grounds.